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/ 17 December 2007

Zuma, Mbeki camps rally in Polokwane

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>President Thabo Mbeki’s team fought back after a first day of humiliation at the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference at Polokwane, holding an unprecedented rally at lunchtime on Monday. Jacob Zuma’s people responded with an even bigger rally.

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/ 17 December 2007

And the runners-up are …

On Sunday a picture emerged of strong support for Jacob Zuma, overshowing the rest and spectacularly managing to humiliate national ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota. As strong an indicator as it was, some delegates supporting President Thabo Mbeki insisted that an Mbeki win remained a possibility.

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/ 17 December 2007

Rebellion at Polokwane

It was open rebellion as the African National Congress began its 52nd national conference. Traditions of the movement, almost 100 years old, were thrown out as the majority of the more than 4 000 delegates made clear their support for the candidacy of deputy president Jacob Zuma to the top job.

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/ 16 December 2007

Motlanthe on the Mbeki-Zuma rift

African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe’s organisational report, delivered on Sunday at the party’s national conference in Polokwane — was the first comprehensive admission from a party leader that the factionalism in the party was a result of a power struggle between two personalities: Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.

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/ 16 December 2007

Mbeki supporters booed in Polokwane

Ministers and aides in President Thabo Mbeki’s government were heckled by delegates on Sunday when the African National Congress opened a conference that could see Mbeki losing control over the party. Some of the delegates booed Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and Essop Pahad, a top aide to Mbeki, as they arrived.

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/ 14 December 2007

Winnie meets Zuma, Mbeki

African National Cngress veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela held meetings with both the party’s deputy president Jacob Zuma and its president Thabo Mbeki on
Friday afternoon. Madikizela-Mandela has suggested Mbeki and Zuma retain their current party positions for the next five years, but that Zuma assume the country’s presidency in 2009.

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/ 7 December 2007

Skweyiya regrets publication of Lekota letter

”Unfortunate and regrettable” was how Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya on Friday described the publication of a letter in which he criticised Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota. ”I wish to state that the letter was intended for internal discussion within the African National Congress, and not for public consumption,” he said.

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/ 6 December 2007

ANC member wants Polokwane put on ice

A member of the African National Congress has launched a legal bid to postpone the party’s conference this month, citing divisions over its leadership and breaches of the Bill of Rights, local media said on Thursday. Lawyer and ANC member Votani Majola would seek an interdict at the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday.

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/ 3 December 2007

Kunene to be charged with murder, court hears

Muziwendoda Kunene, the man caught up in the hoax-email saga, will be charged with murder, the Atteridgeville Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday. Prosecutor Simon Maluleka told the court that Kunene would be charged with the October murder of Ballito real-estate agent Lynne Hume. His eldest son is a witness in that case, Maluleka told the court.

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/ 24 November 2007

Zuma gets another vote of confidence

African National Congress deputy president Zuma was named as the preferred presidential candidate of the Mpumalanga ANC general council, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Friday. Zuma polled 263 votes at a the council meeting held at Waterval Boven on Friday.

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/ 23 November 2007

ANCYL throws weight behind Zuma

The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) has thrown its weight behind Jacob Zuma for president of the ANC, with current president Thabo Mbeki not featuring on its list of 66 nominations released in Johannesburg on Friday. ”We didn’t support him [Mbeki] for president of the ANC,” said ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula.

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/ 21 November 2007

ANC succession battle enters next phase

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/321750/Icon_ANCconference.gif" align=left border=0></a>The battle for the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) enters a climactic phase this week with the party’s two leagues and nine provincial branches each nominating their final candidates. With less than a month to go before the ANC elective conference, the nine provinces are to hold special meetings to consolidate nominations.

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/ 19 November 2007

Kunene’s email trial postponed until 2008

The man at the centre of the African National Congress hoax email saga, Muziwendoda Kunene, had his case postponed for trial next year in the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Monday. Kunene, who had his left hand bandaged after he was shot last week, is charged with contravening the Intelligence Services Oversight Act.

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/ 14 November 2007

ANC rubbishes assassination plot

An alleged assassination plot by the African National Congress (ANC) against the man behind the hoax email saga, Muziwendoda Kunene, is a ”completely conjured up story”, the ruling party said on Wednesday. The party was responding to a 702 report in which Kunene claimed that there was a plot to assassinate him.

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/ 26 October 2007

Cosatu says there’s no ANC wish list

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has not compiled a ”wish list” of candidates for the national executive committee of the African National Congress (ANC). This follows the Mail and Guardian publishing a list on Friday that it said named the 57 people Cosatu wanted as ANC leaders.

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/ 11 October 2007

Mbeki gets boost in ANC leadership race

President Thabo Mbeki’s chances of staying on as leader of South Africa’s ruling party improved on Thursday when the party said the biggest share of regional votes in a leadership contest would go to his stronghold. Mbeki, barred from seeking re-election as national president in 2009, has signalled he intends to stand for a third term as African National Congress (ANC) leader.

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/ 11 October 2007

ANC meet: No room at the inn

Polokwane will be a busy town come December with an expected 4 500 delegates, both voting and non-voting, attending the African National Congress’s (ANC) 52nd national conference. Smuts Ngonyama, head of the presidency of the ANC, on Thursday updated the media in Johannesburg on preparations for the conference.

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/ 13 September 2007

Court told of ANC ‘counter-revolution’

Former director general of the National Intelligence Agency Billy Masetlha has implicated Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils in a ”counter-revolution” meant to destroy the African National Congress (ANC). ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe had said that certain things happening in the party bordered on ”counter-revolution”, Masetlha testified on Wednesday.

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/ 11 September 2007

Cosatu sounds alliance warning

The African National Congress leadership contest can make or break the tripartite alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Tuesday. The warning comes in draft policy documents to be discussed at the trade-union federation’s central committee meeting, which takes place in Esselen Park next week.

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/ 11 September 2007

Court postpones Zille case

A Mitchells Plain court on Tuesday postponed a hearing for Cape Town mayor Helen Zille and 10 others who were arrested on Sunday during a protest against drug lords in a suburb of the city. Zille made a brief appearance in a magistrate’s court to face charges that she had participated in an illegal gathering.

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/ 10 September 2007

ANC: ‘Power struggle’ also a party view

Views expressed in the media that the African National Congress’s (ANC) upcoming national conference was nothing more than a ”power struggle” also came in part from within the organisation, its secretary general said on Monday. ”We know that the media also speaks to members of the ANC from time to time,” Kgalema Motlanthe said